Bruce was more fallen than sitting on a chair in the hospital corridor, eaten by guilt and pain, when he heard steps. He raised his eyes. It was Selina. He suddenly felt a fit of rage although he could not explain the reason.

'Bruce, I heard about Alfred. Is he gonna be okay?'

Bruce's rage increased. What was Selina playing? She had been avoiding him for months, and now, she just reappeared in his life? Worse, he visualized an image of her judging him for what had happened. "Maybe she even thinks she's better than me", he thought.

'Go home, Selina', he said, in the most despective tone he could find.

'What happened?', the girl asked.

'No, you don't get to do this', Bruce said; in that moment, he wanted nothing to do with her.

'Do what?'

'Walk back into my life! You think I need your pity? I don't!

He did not. He did not need her pity. He needed to be understood by someone. Someone to unload on the awful feeling of guilt which was overwhelming him. And Selina was not that someone. She, he was seeing it clearly, only thought of herself and valued people according to their possible usefulness. Maybe she was there for that reason. Because she wanted something from him.

'That's not why I'm here!'

Bruce's rage increased even more. She did not even care he was having an awful time! Or so he thought. She was there to use him, sure, taking advantage of he being vulnerable. And, in addition, it was not the first time she did that. She had never cared about him. Only about what she could obtain from him.

'You want to know what happened? You wouldn't understand.'

'Why? Because I'm...I'm not desperate to believe in something?'

Bruce was about to answer her in the most brutal way possible that she did not believe in anything or anyone but herself, when the voice of sensibility said him "She has no idea about what has happened, maybe she thinks Alfred has been injured in some of kind of fight to save the city which you were commited to, and she's here to reproach your obsession with saving everyone although in fact her real reason is that she was afraid because you could have been killed, because she really cares a lot about you". Although that was a preposterous hypothesis, he decided to give it an opportunity.

'Why are you here? I thought that you didn't want anything to do with me, that you didn't care about what could happen to me', Bruce said, his hands in his pockets, in the most serene tone he could.

'Curious. Because until some days ago, that was true', the girl said in an apparently unconcerned tone.

'What?', Bruce looked at her, confused.

'Some days ago, I really did want nothing to do with you since you hurt me so much about my mother. But then, your, let's say, "twin brother", came to visit me and told me you had been kidnapped and took out the city', Bruce noticed a slight tremble in the girl's voice. 'And when I realized that what he was doing was impersonating you, I tried to warn Alfred about what had happened and he tried to kill me by throwing me out of a window. And if not for Ivy's help, he had succeeded'.

Bruce looked at her, speechless. All that was new for him. But it made him see the girl in a different way. Although she did not yet know that it was him who had injured Alfred seriously, maybe she had associated what she had been said by Bruce's clone with what had just happened. The reason she was there to visit him was neither more nor less than this, that she was really worried about him. And probably she had been for some days. He felt slightly ashamed of himself.

'I'm sorry for having spoken to you in that way, Selina', he muttered, lowering his eyes. 'Maybe...maybe I'm so ashamed about what has happened that I snapped at you.'

'Ashamed? Now you're ashamed about your savior complex?,' Selina shook her head.

'What do you mean?'

'That's what has happened, isn't it? You and Alfred have tried to save this city from the mess in which it is because of Jervis Tetch's virus instead of saving your asses, Alfred got seriously injured and now you feel badly for having put him in that situation. Seriously, Bruce, sometimes I don't know to think about you.'

'No, that isn't what has happened.'

'What then?'

'You would't understand.'

'Again? Why don't you try to explain it to me? Perhaps I'm more understanding than you think', Selina crossed her arms and stared at him defiantly.

Bruce took a deep breath. Perhaps if he told her about it, the huge feeling of guilt he had would be relieved. He invited her to sit down but Selina refused and stood there, her arms crossed.

'I'm all ears.'

And Bruce told her all. He told her about his kidnapping and about how "the Shaman" had brainwashed him to turn him into a puppet of the Court of Owls. He told her about how the Court of Owls was involved into the Waynes' murders and about how the Shaman had exterminated them. He did not hid from her neither that he had been about to activate the virus nor that it was his fault that Alfred was dying. He did not forget either about the mysterious Ras al Ghul or about that allegedly from the destruction of Gotham a new hero would be born, a hero that, according to those who had pushed him to all of this, it would be him.

'Fuck...', Selina whispered. 'I was prepared to tell you to forgot that savior complex, because you'll only get to be killed, but it didn't occurred to me you were in such a big mess, no way.'

She stopped for a second and then she added,

'According to what you've told me, the ones who ordered your parents' deaths are now dead. And the one who killed them, Matches Malone, is dead too. So they have justice now, haven't they?'

'Well...yes', Bruce accepted.

'What if, seen that, you begin to do things rich teenagers do? For example, having a bit of fun. Dating girls. That kind of things. After all, you can afford them. You are rich, make the most of it', Selina slightly smiled.

'I appreciate it. But I can't', Bruce answered.

'Why not?'

'Because Ras al Ghul is still free. It was him, the one who encouraged me to do what I've done. I have to find him.'

'Holy God, Bruce. You'll end up being killed!', Selina sighed. 'Why don't you leave that in adults' hands and you behave like a rich normal teenager like I suggested?'

Bruce saw that Selina, although pretending indifference, in fact was very worried about what could happen to him. However, he felt he could not do what she was saying.

'I thank you for your concern, seriously. But I must have my way, alone. I don't expect you to understand.'

Selina sighed deeply.

'You're right. I don't understand why you're so excited about being killed. I don't understand why, if you can have an easy and carefree life, you do the opposite.'

Bruce was about to answer when a doctor appeared.

'He has got over the surgery. Now we're gonna to carry him to a room.'

'Will he be OK?', Bruce asked, anguished.

'We must wait. He has lost a lot of blood, you see.'

Bruce felt again a terrible feeling of guilt. It was his fault if Alfred was like that. He should have resisted the manipulation but he could not. He had been weak. And when Alfred appeared, being carried on a stretcher towards a room, the feeling of guilt increased. He had to look away.

'Tsh, tsh. It wasn't your fault, Bruce', Selina whispered. 'You were brainwashed.'

'I should have resisted. I SHOULD HAVE RESISTED!'

'You're only sixteen, Bruce. You weren't prepared to what you were going to find when you decided to investigate your parents' deaths. You bit more than you could chew, that's all.'

Bruce kept quiet for a while. Then, he headed for the room where Alfred was.

'Would you mind to leave us alone?'

'Of course, not', Bruce noticed a slight disappointment in Selina's voice. 'Good bye, Bruce, or see you later, I don't know.'

Bruce did not answer. He stood there looking at Alfred. When Selina was about to go out the door, Bruce called her.

'Yes?'

'I'll have you informed if there is anything new. And thanks for coming', he smiled.

'You welcome', Selina smiled too.

Hello! I hope you liked this alternate version of the conversation between Bruce and Selina in the 22th chapter of the 3rd season of "Gotham". See you in the next chapters, where there will be lots and lots of Bat Cat!